Determination of serum alcohol using a disposable biosensor.

Area of Science:

• Electrochemistry
• Biosensor Technology
• Analytical Chemistry

Background:

• Accurate measurement of serum alcohol concentration is crucial for clinical diagnostics and monitoring.
• Existing methods may suffer from interferences or require complex sample preparation.
• Development of rapid, specific, and reliable biosensors for alcohol detection is an ongoing area of research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and characterize a disposable biosensor for the electrocatalytic detection of serum alcohol.
• To immobilize Alcohol Dehydrogenase (ADH) and Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide (NAD(+)) onto a screen-printed electrode using Meldola's Blue (MB) and Nafion.
• To evaluate the biosensor's performance, including specificity, reproducibility, stability, and accuracy.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a screen-printed electrode modified with Meldola's Blue (MB) absorbed on Nafion.
• Immobilization of Alcohol Dehydrogenase (ADH) and Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide (NAD(+)) using a cross-linking method.
• Electrocatalytic detection of alcohol based on the electron transfer mediation of MB, catalyzing NADH to NAD(+) oxidation.

Main Results:

• The biosensor demonstrated effective electrocatalytic activity mediated by MB, allowing alcohol detection at low potentials.
• Optimized response was investigated concerning pH, buffer, temperature, and potential interferents, showing good specificity.
• The biosensor exhibited excellent reproducibility, stability, accuracy, and a fast response time for serum alcohol measurement.

Conclusions:

• A disposable biosensor utilizing ADH, NAD(+), MB, and Nafion on a screen-printed electrode is successfully developed for serum alcohol detection.
• The biosensor's design effectively minimizes interference from other oxidizable substances present in serum.
• The developed biosensor provides a satisfactory and reliable tool for the quantitative measurement of serum alcohol concentrations.